Sorry, Andrew Jackson Probably Never Said That "Den Of Thieves" Quote

Because Andrew Jackson was a
determined opponent of entrenched banking interests, he has
become a heroic figure to many who opposed the bailout of our
financial system.

Unfortunately, he probably never spoke some of the most famous
words attributed to him.

Here's the alleged quote:

Congress in 1836, Jackson closed the
second Federal Bank (est. 1816) with these comments:

The bold effort the present (central)
bank had made to control the government. . . are but premonitions
of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded
into a perpetuation of this institution or the
establishment of another like it.

I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a
national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as
it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed
aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country.

Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am
convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate
in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you
divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged
it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits
from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand
families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin!
Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families,
and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and
thieves.

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out,
and by the grace of the Eternal God, will rout you out.

Andrew Jackson

In our comments section, this was
attributed to a speech before Congress in 1836. That certainly is
not the origin of the quote, unless it went unnoticed for almost
100 years.

The first recorded appearance of this
quote dates to 1928, almost 90 years after it was supposedly
uttered, when it was published in a pamphlet "Andrew
Jackson and the Bank of the United States: An interesting bit of
history concerning 'Old Hickory,'"by Stan Henkles.

Henkles, a Philadelphia
auctioneer and collector of Americana, is probably most famous for republishing a prayer
book that was supposedly hand-written by George Washington.
According to Henkles, he found the book in a trunk owned by a
Washington descendant, Lawrence Washington. Despite the fact that
Lawrence Washington told Henkles that the book had earlier been
rejected by the Smithsonian Institute as inauthentic, Henkles
sold the original manuscript to a New York collector for $1,250.
He also published a facsmile edition that claimed it had
been authored by the first president at the age of
20.

Henkles claimed he discovered the Jackson quote in 1883 in the
minutes of the committee of Philadelphia citizens from February
of 1834. In 1834, Jackson did indeed give a speech to a citizens
committee of Philadelphia in 1834, which was then one of the most
important financial centers of the United States. The committee
had secured an interview with Jackson on a trip to Washington, DC
to discuss Jackson's position against the national bank.

The only contemporary account of the interview does not support
the authencity of the quote. Jackson was speaking yo a hostile
audience, explaining his opposition to the national bank. The
contemporary account, which
appeared in the Baltimore based Niles Register in March of
1834, does say Jackson used some dramatic language, including
the claim that he would not restore the deposits or charter of
the national bank even under torture by the ten Spanish
Inquisitions and that he would rather live in the wilds of Arabia
than a country with a national bank.

"I have read the scriptures, gentlemen, and I find that when
Moses ascended the mountain, the children
of Israel rebelled, and made a golden calf and worshiped it, and
it brought a curse upon them. This bank will be a greater curse,"
Jackson is quoted as saying. "I have no hostility to the bank; I
am willing it should expire in peace; but if it does persist in
its war will the government, I have a measure in contemplation
which will destroy it at once, and which I am resolved to apply,
be the consequences to individuals what they may..."

But nothing is reported that comes close to the den of vipers
quote.

Does that prove that the quote is phony? No. The report of the
interview seems to have been written by someone sympathetic to
the cause of the bankers. It complains that Jackson's "mind was
pre-occupied by a view on the subject, which would neutralize the
effects of facts or reason." It goes on to say that Jackson's
remarks were "very long, somewhat desultory" and so it "is deemed
unnecessary to present in detail."

So perhaps the author of the report simply decided to leave out
Jackson's most powerful statements.

But certainly there is good reason to doubt its authenticity. Our
opinion is that Jackson probably never spoke those words.